Thread by @gro_tsen

OK, this 🔽 blew up (and I'll need to mute the thread). I can't respond to every reply individually, but there are a few common ones that deserve specific attention. So here are a few followup points. 🧵⤵️ •1/15

https://twitter.com/gro_tsen/status/1814386322657947726

First, there are number of things that I forgot to mention. Like how many homeless people were forcibly removed from Paris ahead of the games, or students being told to vacate their residence because they would be used as lodging for the games. •2/15

Or how the price of metro tickets has been suddenly doubled(!) for the games. Admittedly this is more of a tourist tax, because locals typically have monthly cards or could buy their tickets well in advance, but this is still crazy from a supposed public service. •3/15

Anyway, my thread was not meant to be a comprehensive critique of the Paris 2024 Olympics. This will be left for journalists and, I hope, a parliamentary inquiry some day. ❧ But what did some replies to the thread say? ⤵️ •4/15

A number of people said things like “stop whining” or “stop complaining”. I think it's a bit ironic to complain that other people are complaining, but let's ignore that. The broader point is that my point was not so much to complain as to document: … •5/15

… obviously I realize I'm not going to get the Paris 2024 Olympics cancelled one week ahead of the opening ceremony. 😂 I did what I could to raise alarms when there was still time, and obviously I failed then. So now my point is to say “see? this is what happens — … •6/15

… this is what happens when you host the Olympics, esp. in a large city where there is a terrorist threat” — this is why I'm writing in English, not French: so what I write can, hopefully, be used as arguments against future Olympic bids in other cities and countries. •7/15

So, no, I'm not surprised by anything I wrote in the thread: I very well knew that this was going to happen, and I protested at the time (in French), and try to get people to realize that it would be that way. Now I'm trying to provide ammo against future Olympic bids. •8/15

Now another point that has been raised several times is “of course authorities need to take drastic measures: there is a very high terrorism threat, and this requires strong security measures!”. But this just highlights the absurdity of hosting the Olympics in Paris! … •9/15

… I mean, if (IF!) you can't have all three of
‣ Ⓐ hosting the Olympics,
‣ Ⓑ adequate security against terrorism, and
‣ Ⓒ a normal life in the city,
— then one of them has to go, and one which should be sacrificed is the least important, which is Ⓐ, not Ⓒ.
•10/15

We can argue (🔽) about what sacrifices should be made to ensure safety, i.e. of the importance of Ⓑ versus Ⓒ, and that is a different debate, but one thing is certain, namely that the Olympics (Ⓐ) is far less important than EITHER. •11/15

https://x.com/gro_tsen/status/1317124069955981312

So: if you can't guarantee safety from terrorism during the Olympics without crazy security measures, then the answer is to NOT HOST THE OLYMPICS: do not bid for them, and if you realize you can't do it, then retract your bid, or provide an alternative venue. •12/15

I don't know what needs to happen about the Olympics in the future. It's getting clear that nobody wants to host them any more except authoritarian régimes (as a showcase). Maybe they need to be more decentralized, to happen in several cities at once. I don't know. •13/15

Personally I don't care about professional sports of any kind: I think it's a sick display of drugs and money — the only sports I care about are the ones practiced by amateurs who have nothing to gain but having fun and improving their health. But that's BESIDE the point. •14/15

What is not beside the point, however, is that normal life in a large city is more important than ANY kind of event that would severely disrupt this. So if you can't hold Olympics without severely disrupting normal city life, then… just stop! It's that simple. ∎ •15/15